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In Touch - June 4, 2007

In Touch Daily Devotional
by Dr. Charles Stanley


June 4, 2007 – Faith Versus Intellect 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

            In Paul’s time, unbelievers rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ as foolishness. They tried to approach God purely through intellect. Today, people still offer views of God and salvation that are contrary to Scripture’s teachings. Their ideas sometimes sound so reasonable that they lead many astray. According to human logic, the man with the highest education, the largest number of degrees, and the greatest intelligence should have the wisest plan to reach God. But, as the apostle explained, the “wisdom” of mankind is foolishness.

            In Isaiah 29:14 and 1 Corinthians 1:19, God promises to destroy the false wisdom of the world. And for good reason—human wisdom is used to glorify man. Those who dismiss faith in favor of an intellect attempt to gain God’s approval by reasoning, rationalization, or work. For instance, every religion except Christianity has a plan or ritual by which one supposedly gains acceptance with that belief system’s god. Those plans all boil down to this idea: “If I do better, I will be better. If I am better, then I will be more acceptable to my god.” In this model, man does the work and earns the glory for being a good member of his religion. But the end result of all that work is death, eternal separation from the true God.

            Christianity glorifies God and His work. We’re considered faithful believers when we place our trust in Him alone and believe Jesus Christ gave His life so we could be free from sin. Only He has made a way for believers to be acceptable to Him.

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